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Chisame Hasegawa
Chisame Hasegawa (長谷川 千雨, Hasegawa Chisame?) is a fictional character from the manga series Negima!: Magister Negi Magi, created by Ken Akamatsu. The 25th student in Japanese alphabetical order of class 2/3-A, she is the grumpy, unsocial computer hacker of the class, intentionally isolating herself due to her dislike of freaks and weirdos. However, Chisame secretly lives a double life as the famous web idol Chiu (ちう, Chiu?), where she can be popular without putting up with the local idiots. Her logical nature eventually figures out the secrets of Mahora Academy and her teacher Negi Springfield, leading to Chisame drawing closer to the magical world. Background and Personality Chisame is a cynical computer geek living a double life. An overly serious pragmatist in public, Chisame is highly unsocial, intentionally secluding herself from interaction. She cynically views her classmates as idiots and freaks. Any attempts of interaction are immediately shrugged off by Chisame, choosing to either keep her nose in a book or around her personal laptop computer she brings to class. Similarly she distances herself from everyone by sitting in the farthest reaches of the class, alongside her seatmate Yue (who herself is known as a Baka Ranger who can't stand studies) or placing herself in the back of a crowd of people while letting the others act in stupid or silly ways. However, as much as Chisame avoids any and all attention in the real world, her affairs and interaction on the internet are a completely different matter. In the privacy of her own room, the reclusive Chisame transforms into the beautiful Chiu, a famous Net Idol who runs a webpage completely devoted to herself1. The page is filled with pictures of Chiu cosplaying in various cute and sexy outfits dependent on her mood and the interest of her audience. Although the pictures are essentially Chisame with her hair down and in different outfits, she doctors them through the editing program "Photoshock" (a parody of Photoshop) to make herself look even more perfect than she could do on her own. Yet as much as Chisame tries to keep her Chiu side away from the knowledge or understanding of the other Mahora students, she finds out to her dismay that her teacher Negi has become a big fan of her alter ego and goes to her webpage every day. Because of her ability to blend in or avoid interaction, Chisame is able to gain a personal, critical voice in regard to the actions and thoughts of her school, her teacher, and particularly her class. As other students celebrate or get a feel for the various interactions, she makes small comments to herself about the stupidity either of the action or of the students who applaud what is said. Similarly, Chisame nitpicks at the stupidity of the various students she is forced to surround herself with, usually getting away with the commentary outside a couple who are easier peeved than other. (such as Chizuru, whom Chisame nearly gained the wrath of for calling her an old lady in regard to her taste in activities). She particularly dislikes a group of eccentric members of her class for a variety of reasons, including Chachamaru (robot), Mana (too old for junior high school), the Narutaki twins (underage), Ku Fei, Chao, Evangeline, Kaede and Zazie ("foreign" students). Yet her most particular hatred is aimed at Negi, going crazy over the whole concept of having a ten-year old acting as their homeroom teacher. Yet in the midst of calling others crazy, Chisame worries that being a net idol would label her just as crazy as the rest of them. The only people who know about her double life are Negi, Kotaro, Kazumi, Ayaka, and Makie. Chisame has seen and recognized Negi's inherent gift for attracting girls' affections, and has tried to keep him at arm's length. This proved to be more and more difficult as she was pulled deeper and deeper into Negi's world during the Mahora Festival arc. Despite her greatest effort in trying to not associate herself with Negi and his magic wielding friends, she is inadvertently pulled deeper and deeper into their world to the point of considering the people she once thought of as weirdos and freaks as her friends. She is much closer to Chachamaru then to most in their group, mostly because the latter often drags her into Negi's group meetings or their silly escapades. Character Design Ken Akamatsu's previous series, Love Hina, centered around the lives of several girls, particularly in the main lead of Naru Narusegawa. Although typically depicted by her beautiful, yet fiery nature, Naru was also a genius in studies. She has an alternate appearance, which included braided hair and a pair of glasses. This is intended to hide her more studious side while attending the cram school and maintain the image of the fiery Naru of the Hinata House. With the establishment of Negima!, Akamatsu knowingly split up Naru's personality into two separate characters: the fiery, powerful yet concerned lead part went to Asuna Kagurazaka and the more reclusive girl with the split personality went to Chisame. The split in Chisame's own personality is more dynamic compared to Naru because of the contrast between her forms with and without her glasses. The typical Chisame, ponytailed and wearing glasses, is depicted as a smart but extremely cynical girl with a logical view of the world. On the other hand, the alternative free-hair and glasses-free Chiu is a joyous personality, who expresses a sense of exhibitionism via her manipulations creating popularity through her own website. Early renditions of Chisame merely had her as Chiu Hasegawa in both forms, with sketches depicting her "idol" side more like a singing idol compared to a web idol and her student form more restrained with a braided ponytail. Through the creation of Chisame, Akamatsu not only has taken Naru's own split identity to another level but created the most grounded of the students in the entire class. Unlike many, who mostly follow their feelings no matter what, Chisame chooses to look at the world with reason. While she still shows off feelings and emotions, both controlled and spontaneous, sensibility remains her preference, from the mundane to the fantastic. Part in the Story At the start of the story, Chisame tries to avoid any and all interaction with the class as much as possible. The only time she has any real notice is as the only open critical voice over the selection of the ten-year old Negi Springfield as their new teacher, asking Shizuna-sensei if she is actually serious about the decision. Outside this comment, Chisame mostly kept to herself and intentionally ignored or avoided anything in regard to her class. It is only after the success of Negi's English teachings to become a full-time homeroom teacher for 9th Grade that Chisame finally gets within Negi's notice, showing off her aggravation to the point that her teacher becomes concerned about her contrary behavior. It is the same behavior that makes Negi also discover Chisame's double life as Chiu, making the young mage attempt to help her get over her avoidance of her classmates...but embarrassing her in the process by sneezing off a bunny outfit she was wearing for her website. After that incident, Chisame's commentary both regarding the stupidity of her teacher and of her fellow classmates begin to pick up, with her making comments on the slightest stupidity of her fellow students and for "the ten year old". Yet as Chisame remains the same, the weirdness she witness begins to increase, including an assault by the yokai of Cinema Village in Kyoto and the ambush of the Slime Sisters under the command of Graf Herrman. Ignoring the weirdness, she begins to make logical conclusions that were by no means anything at all supernatural. Yet at the same time she continues to get occasionally coerced into "joining the crowd" or bringing her cynicism under control, particularly due to the bizarre psychology of the nurturing Chizuru. Although initially appearing to have no connections in regard to the Mahora Festival, Chisame in actuality is connected to an unscheduled event Negi finds time to join in: a special underground costume contest (also participated by Ayaka and Makie, unknown to the hacker/idol). Though initially with a massive stage fright (though she can perform easily in private in her Chiu persona, performing in public and without her glasses is a different matter), a strangely appealing psychological breakdown is judged as "in character" for her performance and considered moe, making Chisame an unexpected winner. After the contest, Negi gives Chisame a courtesy ticket to the Mahora Martial Arts Tournament. Though initially hesitant towards going, she decides to check it out regardless. Though initially skeptical, and desperate to rationalize the events of the Martial Arts Tournament, Chisame deduces that Negi is a mage while conversing with him and Chachamaru while watching the Tournament. During a later conversation with Chachamaru, she considers forming a probationary contract with Negi. Though she immediately said that she was just joking, events quickly pull her in that direction. During this time, she is reduced down to a 10-year-old due to the Age-Deceiving Pills. She initially refuses to try one when Negi offered it to her, but Chachamaru pops it into her mouth. Chisame comes to like her new appearance and decides to use pictures of herself as Chiu's Little Sister on her webpage. Eventually, Chisame and some of the girls are trapped in the future after Chao had succeeds in her plan to reveal magic to the world. Though still reluctant about accepting the concept of magic, she joins the other girls in Negi's rescue and return to the third day of the school festival. As things become desperate with Chao's armies attacking, Chisame (with much reluctance on her part) finally agrees to make a Provisional Contract with Negi. She plans to do so while Negi was still unconscious, but to her embarrassment, he wakes up just as she is about to touch lips with him. She immediately kisses him while covering his eyes. This is enough to create a proper Pactio, rather than a botched card, making her the seventh student to form a contract. Her artifact is an elaborately decorated staff, which used in conjunction with her laptop teleports her (as well as Makie and Ayaka) into cyberspace, where she takes part in an electronic battle against Chachamaru to stop Chao and secure the magical barrier. Although she does reconstruct the barrier, she becomes quite frustrated when Chachamaru informs her of the orders to unconditionally surrender in the event that Negi defeats Chao (which he does just before Chisame breaks through Chachamaru's defenses), and that the spell has been changed to remove sadness and hatred in the world for a day. After the festival, Chisame has found her artifact to be extremely useful, helping her homepage skyrocket to the top rankings all over the Internet. This newfound fame, however, leaves her feeling strangely empty. She later comes to Evangeline's Resort along with Kazumi, Sayo and Chachamaru to enjoy a barbecue with Negi and the others. Though she is very reluctant to take part in any of the White Wing group's activities, she later decides to accompany Negi to England as she makes a surprise arrival at the airport. She states that things on the Internet has become dull, (most likely due to her Pactio ability to control it with ease), and denies any other reason for joining the group other than having nothing else to do. Chisame and the others make their way to Wales, passing through the home of Nekane Springfield before journeying further. She and the rest of the White Wing club enter the portal to the Magic World. Despite seeing fantastic sights such as flying whales and other sea creatures, Chisame still stubbornly denies being awed by the displays of magic and tries to make sense of it all. However, she is unable to do anything to help Negi after he is attacked by a group lead by Fate Averruncus and is temporarily separated from everyone in the depths of a magical jungle. She was later attacked by a squid-like monster which using his tentacles stripped most of her clothes in a scene that resembled a tentacle rape, although Chachamaru later tells her that the squid-like monster was harmless. She has been rescued by Negi and Chachamaru as the White Wing club begins to regroup following the destruction of the magical gate. However, with Negi and the rest of the White Wing Club being hunted under false charges of destroying the Gateport, Chisame is forced to take a Blue Age Deceiving Pill again and use nekomimi to avoid recognition by bounty hunters. She stays and assists Negi both as he attempts to win some money to free some of his students from slavery as well as to find the whereabouts of the others and decides to accompany Negi again when he begins training with Nagi's ally Jacobus Rakan. During which she acts as the surrogate guardian for Negi as a temporary replacement for Asuna. During this time, she grows much more considerate of Negi and struggles with herself to decide what would be the greater good for Negi. Abilities Pactio:Sceptrum Virtuale: Her artifact is a heart-topped staff, similar to a weapon used by magical girls. The staff allows for several magical properties when used. For starters, it allows for her to attack opponents with a powerful magical attack when used properly. Secondly, when in conjunction with her laptop PC, it allows her and anyone within her vicinity to enter cyberspace, upon which she can internally hack into systems using her computer knowledge to put a stop to any opponent. However, their physical bodies remain in the real word in a kind of trance-like state. Most likely, it is their astral forms which enters cyberspace. Additionally, Chisame is supported by seven virtual 'electronic spirits,' which are seen as talking, long-tailed mice. They wanted Chisame to give them names, but she didn't want to be bothered with such a task and left their names up to Makie. Their names are as follows: Kincha, Hanpe, Konnya, Chikuwafu, Negi, Daiko, and Shirataki. They aid Chisame in her battle with Chachamaru in cyberspace by downloading data, and watching out for any kind of viral attacks. The mice can also manipulate data from other computers, which allowed Chisame's webpage to become the number one Net Idol page on the Internet. They also have the ability of appearing in the real world, but only as long as an electronic device such as a computer or cell phone is active nearby and has enough power. If not, then the mice go into hibernation mode to save energy. It is possible her Pactio has other powers that have yet to be revealed as Chisame later asks Negi about some of the functions of her card. Software & Computer Knowledge: Chisame has created her own net idol webpage and currently stars herself as Net Idol Chiu. She is well versed in using image-enhancing programs such as Photoshock and digital cameras to make herself look more enticing. Hacking Abilities: She is able to hack into large databases using nothing more than a laptop computer, and is able to put up firewalls and other protection programs to a certain extent (though she needs to use her Pactio artifact against more formidable opponents such as Chachamaru). She can cross-reference articles and other sources of information, which she later uses to deduce Negi's identity as a mage and the existence of magic. Net Idol Chiu Quick Change: Most commonly shown in the Anime series, Chisame can quickly change into her Net Idol Chiu and change back to herself in seconds. Chisame uses this ability most commonly on outdoors while nobody is looking and when she can't find any other place to hide into. When she knows that somebody is coming, she will quickly change back to her normal self. Chisame in Other Media Mahō Sensei Negima! (1st Anime) Chisame (as Chiu) with green hair in Mahō Sensei NegimaIn the first anime series, Chisame's hair was made green instead of the red pictured above. However, when using her Pactio in the final episode, her hair was magically changed to its right color as Chiu. Chisame's story comes from different circumstances between the manga and anime representation: while the manga version is connected to Chisame's own aggravation of class and having a child teacher with Chiu as her outlet to acceptance, the anime version changes it to a web war between Chiu & 2-A after the class sets up their own webpage. The outcome is similarly changed: the anime version has Chisame finding slight acceptance into the class, while the manga version leads Chisame to becoming even more critical towards Negi and her classmates. She does not take part in the 2-A pillow fight, instead working the booth alongside Kazumi who coerces her to do so when she gets a scoop involving her being Chiu. Another slight adjustment in this version: Akira joins the group of Chisame's "obvious weirdos" as the former's 175 cm. (5 ft., 9 in.) frame puts her between Chachamaru and Kaede. Negima!? Chiu, Chisame's web-idol alter ego, as seen in Negima!?Chisame mostly retains her typical character traits in this rendition of the story: an antisocial web hacker who secretly becomes a sexy web idol in her room (which surprisingly is shared with Satomi as opposed to living alone2). However like the first anime, Chisame's hair color is has changed once again, yet this time for both of her persona. Whenever she is the reclusive Chisame, her hair is brown in color. However, whenever she becomes web idol Chiu, Chisame has the magical ability to change the color of her hair to pink without any editing software. It is unknown how exactly Chisame is able to change her hair color. At the time of the anime's start, Chisame had recently become the seventh partner for Negi in the manga. However, she only gained Pactio with him during the mass Pactio instead of on her own like the six previous partners in this rendition (since she had not made Pactio with Negi by the start of the anime's production, she was grouped with nearly every other character outside several special cases exclusive to this story). Likewise, Chisame's released when everyone else did at the same time. During the "Suka incident", she turns into a fox who also can turn from Chisame to Chiu. While pics do show the Suka form as both Chisame and Chiu, the Chiu side keeps her playful, sexy persona in a younger body and mind. Similarly, her Cosplay release in the final episode also turns her into Chiu in a web surfing outfit, allowing her to improve the ratings of her website. While promotional pics of her armor form shows Chisame using her hacking abilities (while dressed as a schoolgirl), some promotional images have shown Chisame in the "Negima!?" style with a similar Pactio outfit to the manga, created after her contract. Prior to sealing her contract with Negi, Chisame was among the first three students possessed by a Dark Seed Fairy (the other two were Yūna and Kaede) which Negi and his first four partners (Asuna, Nodoka, Konoka, and Setsuna) had to deal with. Like the manga, Chisame is careful to avoid any interaction between her normal self and her Chiu-self. Yet as careful as she tries, the audience do consistently see small little Chiu snippets from her website, either while created or while being created by the web idol. Not surprisingly with Chisame's secretive nature, several characters (including Makie, Ku Fei and Chizuru) end up annoying Chisame about knowing or discovering her secret, calling her "Chiu-Chiu-san" in public which the brunette vehemently denies on every turn. Even Zazie, who appears to avoid all interaction in class outside occasional short talks with Mana, imagines a Chiu scene at one point, showing that the knowledge of the web idol is more common knowledge than Chisame would want it to be. The only real threat that Chisame has when it comes to web idol competition is a site that posted an anonymous picture of Nodoka, with Nodoka not knowing about this until she read Chisame's mind in hopes of finding out what her thoughts were while possessed by a Dark Seed Fairy.